Non-contiguous channel bonding

ABSTRACT

This disclosure describes methods, apparatus, and systems related to non-contiguous channel bonding. A device may determine a wireless communication channel having one or more subchannels in accordance with one or more communication standards. The device may determine instructions to perform one or more clear channel assessments (CCAs) on at least one of the one or more subchannels. The device may cause to send the instructions to one or more first devices. The device may identify a frame received from at least one of the one or more first devices, wherein the frame is received on at least one available subchannel of the one or more subchannels.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No.62/244,603 filed Oct. 21, 2015, the disclosure of which is incorporatedherein by reference as if set forth in full.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure generally relates to systems and methods for wirelesscommunications and, more particularly, to non-contiguous channel bondingin wireless communications.

BACKGROUND

Wireless devices are becoming widely prevalent and are increasinglyrequesting access to wireless channels. A next generation WLAN, IEEE802.11ax or High-Efficiency WLAN (HEW) utilizes OrthogonalFrequency-Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) in channel allocation.Communication channels may be comprised of one or more subchannels,where individual subchannels may be susceptible to interference fromadjacent devices.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A depicts a network diagram illustrating an example networkenvironment of an illustrative non-contiguous channel bonding system,according to one or more example embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 1B depict a diagram illustrating throughput degradation incontiguous channel bonding.

FIG. 1C depicts an illustrative schematic diagram of a non-contiguouschannel bonding, according to one or more example embodiments of thedisclosure.

FIG. 2 depicts an illustrative schematic diagram of a trigger framebased communication, in accordance with one or more example embodimentsof the present disclosure.

FIGS. 3A-3B depict illustrative schematic diagrams of non-contiguouschannel bonding, in accordance with one or more example embodiments ofthe present disclosure.

FIGS. 4A-4B depict illustrative schematic diagrams of non-contiguouschannel bonding using an additional CCA measurement, in accordance withone or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIGS. 5A-5C depict illustrative schematic diagrams of non-contiguouschannel bonding with a frequency band of 160 MHz, in accordance with oneor more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 6 depicts a flow diagram of an illustrative process for anillustrative non-contiguous channel bonding system, in accordance withone or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 7 illustrates a functional diagram of an example communicationstation that may be suitable for use as a user device, in accordancewith one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of an example machine upon which any of one ormore techniques (e.g., methods) may be performed, in accordance with oneor more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Example embodiments described herein provide certain systems, methods,and devices, for providing signaling to Wi-Fi devices in various Wi-Finetworks, including, but not limited to, IEEE 802.11ax (referred to asHE or HEW).

The following description and the drawings sufficiently illustratespecific embodiments to enable those skilled in the art to practicethem. Other embodiments may incorporate structural, logical, electrical,process, and other changes. Portions and features of some embodimentsmay be included in, or substituted for, those of other embodiments.Embodiments set forth in the claims encompass all available equivalentsof those claims.

During communication between two devices, one or more frames may be sentand received. These frames may include one or more fields (or symbols)that may be based on an IEEE 802.11 standard. In a high efficiencycommunication (e.g., HEW) these one or more fields may be represented byone or more OFDMA symbols.

In the case where the legacy device and the HEW device coexist, thelegacy device may support and may use a 20 MHz band to communicate withthe AP or another legacy device in peer to peer mode. Since HEW maysupport 80 MHz, one of the 20 MHz subchannels of the 80 MHz band may beused by the legacy device causing a puncturing of the 80 MHz. That is,the HEW device may have to use the unused subchannels. However,non-contiguous channel bonding may not be supported, and therefore, theHEW device may only use the primary subchannel.

A Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) circuit may be used to separate thesignals between subchannels. In order to do so, the FFT circuitry mayhave to be powered on. However, the FFT circuitry may utilize additionalpower while it is powered on. In order for a device to measure its ClearChannel assessment (CCA), the device should have the FFT circuitrypowered on or the device may use low pass filtering for the CCAmeasurement. Both of these mechanisms utilize additional power andtherefore excessive use of CCA measurement may result in increased powerconsumption.

CCA measurement may be utilized by a device in order to determinewhether the channel is clear based on a decibel-milliwatts (dBm) levelof reception. The FFT circuit may not be always turned on in order tosave power. When it is off, the power measurement for each 20 MHzsubchannel may need to be done in time domain samples in order to savepower. For example, the receiving device may need to down-convert each20 MHz subchannel to baseband around direct current (DC) and conduct lowpass filtering. This consumes digital multiplications and power. BesidesFFT, there are other alternatives for separating the signals ofdifferent subchannels so that CCA for the subchannels can be conducted.Band pass filtering is one of the alternatives and it also consumespower as FFT does.

Example embodiments of the present disclosure relate to systems,methods, and devices for non-contiguous channel bonding that facilitatesa trigger based and a non-trigger based non-contiguous channel bonding.In the trigger-based case, a device may be instructed to conduct CCAwithin a limited time. For example, a trigger frame may instruct thedevice to measure the CCA for each 20 MHz subchannel after the triggerframe, within, for example, a few microseconds (e.g., 4 microseconds).Since FFT should be used for a limited time in order to preserve powerconsumption, CCA measurement may be performed for each 20 MHzsubchannel. In the non-trigger based case, the device may monitor thechannel without instructions, in order to determine whether the channelis available or not.

In one embodiment, if the communication between devices (e.g., betweenan AP and a user device) is configured to operate on a 160 MHz channel,a device may be instructed to measure the CCA of the primary 20 MHz, thesecondary 20 MHz, the secondary 40 MHz, and the secondary 80 MHz. Thismay allow a limited number of CCA measurements resulting in lower powerconsumption as opposed to having to measure the CCA for each of thesubchannels in the 160 MHz channel.

In one embodiment, if the communication between devices is configured tooperate in an 80 MHz channel, a device may be instructed to measure theCCA of the primary 20 MHz, the secondary 20 MHz, and the secondary 40MHz.

In one embodiment, a device may be instructed to perform one or more CCAmeasurements in addition to the above measurements. For example, if onlyone additional CCA measurement is supported, a device may measure theCCA of half of the largest secondary subchannel. For example, if themaximum bandwidth of the system is 80 MHz, then the largest secondarysubchannel is the secondary 40 MHz subchannel. This results in 4 CCAmeasurements in the 80 MHz channel. The extra CCA measurement maydetermine which, if any, of the individual 20 MHz subchannels in thesecondary 40 MHz subchannel are busy or available. This essentiallyallows the device to perform CCA measurements for each of the 20 MHzsubchannels in the 80 MHz channel. For example, in FIG. 3A, theoccupancy on the secondary 20 MHz can be detected. For another example,the joint occupancies on both the secondary 20 MHz and the lower (orsecond) 20 MHz of the secondary 40 MHz can be detected as well.

In one embodiment, if the communication between devices is configured tooperate in a 160 MHz channel, one additional CCA measurement mayrequested for the largest secondary channel (e.g., the secondary 80 MHzsubchannel). That is, two CCA measurements will be performed by thedevice, one for the first 40 MHz in the secondary 80 MHz subchannel andanother one for the second 40 MHz in the secondary 80 MHz subchannel.

The above descriptions are for purposes of illustration and are notmeant to be limiting. Numerous other examples, configurations,processes, etc., may exist, some of which are described in detail below.Example embodiments will now be described with reference to theaccompanying figures.

FIG. 1A is a network diagram illustrating an example networkenvironment, according to some example embodiments of the presentdisclosure. Wireless network 100 may include one or more devices 120 andone or more access point(s) (AP) 102, which may communicate inaccordance with IEEE 802.11 communication standards, including IEEE802.11ax. The device(s) 120 may be mobile devices that arenon-stationary and do not have fixed locations.

In some embodiments, the user devices 120 and AP 102 may include one ormore computer systems similar to that of the functional diagram of FIG.7 and/or the example machine/system of FIG. 8.

One or more illustrative user device(s) 120 and/or AP 102 may beoperable by one or more user(s) 110. The user device(s) 120 (e.g., 124,126, or 128) and/or AP 102 may include any suitable processor-drivendevice including, but not limited to, a mobile device or a non-mobile,e.g., a static, device. For example, user device(s) 120 and/or AP 102may include, a user equipment (UE), a station (STA), an access point(AP), a personal computer (PC), a wearable wireless device (e.g.,bracelet, watch, glasses, ring, etc.), a desktop computer, a mobilecomputer, a laptop computer, an ultrabook™ computer, a notebookcomputer, a tablet computer, a server computer, a handheld computer, ahandheld device, an internet of things (IoT) device, a sensor device, aPDA device, a handheld PDA device, an on-board device, an off-boarddevice, a hybrid device (e.g., combining cellular phone functionalitieswith PDA device functionalities), a consumer device, a vehicular device,a non-vehicular device, a mobile or portable device, a non-mobile ornon-portable device, a mobile phone, a cellular telephone, a PCS device,a PDA device which incorporates a wireless communication device, amobile or portable GPS device, a DVB device, a relatively smallcomputing device, a non-desktop computer, a “carry small live large”(CSLL) device, an ultra mobile device (UMD), an ultra mobile PC (UMPC),a mobile internet device (MID), an “origami” device or computing device,a device that supports dynamically composable computing (DCC), acontext-aware device, a video device, an audio device, an A/V device, aset-top-box (STB), a blu-ray disc (BD) player, a BD recorder, a digitalvideo disc (DVD) player, a high definition (HD) DVD player, a DVDrecorder, a HD DVD recorder, a personal video recorder (PVR), abroadcast HD receiver, a video source, an audio source, a video sink, anaudio sink, a stereo tuner, a broadcast radio receiver, a flat paneldisplay, a personal media player (PMP), a digital video camera (DVC), adigital audio player, a speaker, an audio receiver, an audio amplifier,a gaming device, a data source, a data sink, a digital still camera(DSC), a media player, a smartphone, a television, a music player, orthe like. It is understood that the above is a list of devices. However,other devices, including smart devices such as lamps, climate control,car components, household components, appliances, etc. may also beincluded in this list.

Any of the user device(s) 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126, 128), and AP102 may be configured to communicate with each other via one or morecommunications networks 130 and/or 135 wirelessly or wired. Any of thecommunications networks 130 and/or 135 may include, but not limited to,any one of a combination of different types of suitable communicationsnetworks such as, for example, broadcasting networks, cable networks,public networks (e.g., the Internet), private networks, wirelessnetworks, cellular networks, or any other suitable private and/or publicnetworks. Further, any of the communications networks 130 and/or 135 mayhave any suitable communication range associated therewith and mayinclude, for example, global networks (e.g., the Internet), metropolitanarea networks (MANs), wide area networks (WANs), local area networks(LANs), or personal area networks (PANs). In addition, any of thecommunications networks 130 and/or 135 may include any type of mediumover which network traffic may be carried including, but not limited to,coaxial cable, twisted-pair wire, optical fiber, a hybrid fiber coaxial(HFC) medium, microwave terrestrial transceivers, radio frequencycommunication mediums, white space communication mediums, ultra-highfrequency communication mediums, satellite communication mediums, or anycombination thereof.

Any of the user device(s) 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126, 128), and AP102 may include one or more communications antennas. The one or morecommunications antennas may be any suitable type of antennascorresponding to the communications protocols used by the user device(s)120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126 and 128), and AP 102. Some non-limitingexamples of suitable communications antennas include Wi-Fi antennas,Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 familyof standards compatible antennas, directional antennas, non-directionalantennas, dipole antennas, folded dipole antennas, patch antennas,multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antennas, omnidirectionalantennas, quasi-omnidirectional antennas, or the like. The one or morecommunications antennas may be communicatively coupled to a radiocomponent to transmit and/or receive signals, such as communicationssignals to and/or from the user devices 120 and/or AP 102.

Any of the user device(s) 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126, 128), and AP102 may be configured to perform directional transmission and/ordirectional reception in conjunction with wirelessly communicating in awireless network. Any of the user device(s) 120 (e.g., user devices 124,126, 128), and AP 102 may be configured to perform such directionaltransmission and/or reception using a set of multiple antenna arrays(e.g., DMG antenna arrays or the like). Each of the multiple antennaarrays may be used for transmission and/or reception in a particularrespective direction or range of directions. Any of the user device(s)120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126, 128), and AP 102 may be configured toperform any given directional transmission towards one or more definedtransmit sectors. Any of the user device(s) 120 (e.g., user devices 124,126, 128), and AP 102 may be configured to perform any given directionalreception from one or more defined receive sectors.

MIMO beamforming in a wireless network may be accomplished using RFbeamforming and/or digital beamforming. In some embodiments, inperforming a given MIMO transmission, user devices 120 and/or AP 102 maybe configured to use all or a subset of its one or more communicationsantennas to perform MIMO beamforming.

Any of the user devices 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126, 128), and AP102 may include any suitable radio and/or transceiver for transmittingand/or receiving radio frequency (RF) signals in the bandwidth and/orchannels corresponding to the communications protocols utilized by anyof the user device(s) 120 and AP 102 to communicate with each other. Theradio components may include hardware and/or software to modulate and/ordemodulate communications signals according to pre-establishedtransmission protocols. The radio components may further have hardwareand/or software instructions to communicate via one or more Wi-Fi and/orWi-Fi direct protocols, as standardized by the Institute of Electricaland Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards. In certain exampleembodiments, the radio component, in cooperation with the communicationsantennas, may be configured to communicate via 2.4 GHz channels (e.g.802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n, 802.11ax), 5 GHz channels (e.g. 802.11n,802.11ac, 802.11ax), or 60 GHZ channels (e.g. 802.11ad). In someembodiments, non-Wi-Fi protocols may be used for communications betweendevices, such as Bluetooth, dedicated short-range communication (DSRC),Ultra-High Frequency (UHF) (e.g. IEEE 802.11af, IEEE 802.22), white bandfrequency (e.g., white spaces), or other packetized radiocommunications. The radio component may include any known receiver andbaseband suitable for communicating via the communications protocols.The radio component may further include a low noise amplifier (LNA),additional signal amplifiers, an analog-to-digital (A/D) converter, oneor more buffers, and digital baseband.

Typically, when an AP (e.g., AP 102) establishes communication with oneor more user devices 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126, and/or 128), theAP may communicate in the downlink direction by sending data frames. Thedata frames may be preceded by one or more preambles that may be part ofone or more headers. These preambles may be used to allow the userdevice to detect a new incoming data frame from the AP. A preamble maybe a signal used in network communications to synchronize transmissiontiming between two or more devices (e.g., between the APs and userdevices). The communication may include communication between legacydevices and/or HEW devices.

In one embodiment, and with reference to FIG. 1A, an HEW preamble (e.g.,preamble 140) may include one or more fields, such as, legacy shorttraining and long training field, a legacy signal field (L-SIG), a highefficiency signal A (HE-SIG-A) field, a high efficiency signal B(HE-SIG-B) field, high efficiency short training and long trainingfields.

These fields may be communicated between the devices such as the AP 102and one or more user devices 120. The communication may utilize acertain frequency band (e.g., 20, 40, 80, 160 MHz, etc.) based on thedevice and the IEEE standard followed by the device (e.g., legacydevices or HEW device). For example, legacy devices may utilize a 20 MHzbut HEW device may support the same 20 MHz band and larger frequencybands. It is understood that the above acronyms may be different and notto be construed as a limitation as other acronyms maybe used for thefields included in an HEW preamble.

FIG. 1B depicts a diagram illustrating throughput degradation incontiguous channel bonding. A contiguous channel is a channel thatcontains one or more subchannels that are adjacent to each other. Inother words, may be following each other in frequency. A contiguouschannel may include at least in part a contiguous 20 MHz channel,contiguous 40 MHz channel, contiguous 80 MHz channel and/or contiguous160 MHz channel.

In the example of FIG. 1B, devices may utilize an 80 MHz channel forcommunication. The 80 MHz channel may include a primary 40 MHz and asecondary 40 MHz subchannel 164. The primary 40 MHz may also becomprised of a primary 20 MHz subchannel 160 and a secondary 20 MHzsubchannel 162. In some scenarios, the secondary 20 MHz subchannel 162may become busy or unavailable, but the rest of the other subchannels(e.g., the primary 20 MHz subchannel 160, and the secondary 40 MHzsubchannel 164) may be idle or available. In the case of contiguouschannel bonding, a device may only be able to use the primary 20 MHzsubchannel 160 since the rest of the subchannels are not contiguous withthe primary 20 MHz subchannel 160. Therefore, only 20 MHz instead of the60 MHz that is still available may be used for the communication,resulting in unused subchannels. It should be noted that the primary 20MHz subchannel could be at any of the 20 MHz subchannel within the 40MHz, 80 MHz, and 160 MHz bands, respectively. The primary 20 MHz isshown as the first 20 MHz subchannel in the figures only for anillustration purpose.

FIG. 1C depicts an illustrative schematic diagram of a non-contiguouschannel bonding, according to one or more example embodiments of thedisclosure. A non-contiguous channel is a channel that contains subchannels that are separated by one or more frequency gaps.

In FIG. 1C, an 80 MHz channel may, similarly to FIG. 1B, contain one ormore subchannels and may have one of these subchannels busy orunavailable.

In one embodiment, a non-contiguous channel bonding system may determinea busy or unavailable subchannel and may allow for non-contiguouschannels to be utilized by a device even though one of the allocatedsubchannels is busy or unavailable. For example, devices may utilize an80 MHz channel for communication. The 80 MHz channel may be comprised ofa primary 40 MHz subchannel that may include a primary 20 MHz subchannel166 and a secondary 20 MHz subchannel on 68. The 80 MHz channel may alsoinclude a secondary 40 MHz subchannel 170. In the example of FIG. 1C,secondary 20 MHz subchannel 168 may be unavailable or busy. In oneembodiment, a device may be able to utilize primary 20 MHz subchannel166 and/or secondary 40 MHz subchannel 170 in order to communicate withanother device. Therefore, 60 MHz may be available to be used forcommunication, as opposed to only 20 MHz subchannel in the contiguouschannel bonding of FIG. 1B.

In one embodiment, the non-trigger based case, the number of CCAmeasurements may be kept the same as in the legacy IEEE 802.11ac, forexample, perform CCA measurements only on primary 20 MHz subchannel,secondary 20, and secondary 40 in case of an 80 MHz channel. Further, inthe case of a 160 MHz channel, a device may perform CCA measurements onthe primary 20 MHz subchannel, the secondary 20 MHz subchannel, thesecondary 40 MHz subchannel and the secondary 80 MHz subchannel. If asecondary subchannel is busy, that subchannel may not be used but theremaining usable subchannels may still be used.

FIG. 2 depicts an illustrative schematic diagram of a trigger framebased communication, in accordance with one or more example embodimentsof the present disclosure.

In one embodiment, if the CCA measurement is performed for a shortduration, then it may be performed on each 20 MHz subchannel withoutspending too much power. FFT may be used to separate the signals on each20 MHz subchannel. However, if the device monitors the channel for longtime, FFT circuitry may be turned off and time domain samples may beused instead of FFT for CCA measurements. In this case, the number ofCCA measurements may be limited.

In one embodiment, two cases of CCA operations may be defined: triggerbased and non-trigger based. In the trigger-based case, a user device222 may receive a trigger frame (e.g., trigger frame 240) from an AP202. After receiving the trigger frame 240, the user device 222 mayconduct CCA measurements within a predetermined time in accordance withand IEEE 802.11 standard. For example, receiving the trigger frame 240may indicate to the user device 222 that CCA measurements may beperformed. In another embodiment, the trigger frame 240 may containinformation that may be decoded by the user device 222 receiving thetrigger frame 240 to determine how many CCA measurements to beperformed. The information may indicate to the user device 222 that CCAmeasurement 242 should be performed, for example, for each 20 MHzsubchannel after receiving the trigger frame 240 for the predeterminedtime 206 (e.g., 4 microseconds). The trigger frame 240 may be amultiuser, multicast trigger a single user, or unicast frame such asrequest to send (RTS) frame. Since FFT is only used for a limitedduration in order to conserve power, CCA measurement may be done foreach 20 MHz subchannel. In the example of FIG. 2, user device 222 mayneed to continue the FFT operation for one symbol after the triggerframe 240. Depending on the CCA results, the response frame 244 may notbe sent over the primary subchannel. For example, if the primarysubchannel is busy but secondary 20 MHz and another 20 MHz subchannelare clear, the response may be sent over the available subchannels. Inthe non-trigger based case, the user device 222 may monitor the channelwithout instructions from, for example, a trigger frame. In order toreduce power consumption, FFT and CCA measurements may be used only inspecific situations.

In one embodiment, a non-contiguous channel bonding system may maximizesubchannel usage by performing CCA measurement at least in part on thelower subchannels in a communication channel. Referring back to FIG. 1B,it should be noted that the lower the secondary subchannel is busy(e.g., secondary 20 MHz subchannel 162), the smaller the bandwidth maybe used (e.g., only 20 MHz can be used in this case). That is, the busysecondary 20 MHz subchannel 162 reduces the usable channel to 20 MHz(e.g., primary 20 MHz subchannel 160). In the same sense, if thesecondary 40 MHz subchannel 164 was busy, the available subchannel maybe reduced to the primary 40 MHz subchannel. Therefore, addressing thebusy secondary 20 MHz subchannel in each communication channel (e.g.,20, 40, 80, 160 MHz, etc.) provides the most gain. Similarly, addressingthe busy secondary 40 MHz subchannel in 160 MHz channel also providessignificant gain. When FFT circuit is turned on, per 20 MHz CCA isfeasible. However, in idle mode before receiving the indication for CCAmeasurement (e.g., using a trigger frame), the user device 222 may turnthe FFT circuit off in order to save power. In this case, the CCA isusually done on time domain samples by down conversion and low passfiltering. Since these operations consume power, the number of CCAmeasurements may be limited. Supporting only the non-contiguous channelbonding modes that provide the most gain also may help a receivingdevice (e.g., user device 222) in decoding the HE preamble because thislimits the formats of HE-SIG-B. The HE preamble may be sent over theprimary subchannel and over other available subchannels based on the CCAmeasurements.

FIGS. 3A-3B depict illustrative schematic diagrams of non-contiguouschannel bonding, in accordance with one or more example embodiments ofthe present disclosure.

In one embodiment, the CCA complexity may be kept as low as possible.For example, the CCA may be kept the same as in the legacy IEEE 802.11standard. For example, if the system is configured to be operating on a80 MHz channel (as in FIG. 3A), the CCA measurement may be performed onthe primary 20 MHz subchannel 302, the secondary 20 MHz subchannel 304,and the secondary 40 MHz subchannel 306. If the system is configured tobe operating on a 160 MHz channel (as in FIG. 3B), the CCA measurementmay be performed on primary 20 MHz, secondary 20 MHz, secondary 40 MHz,and secondary 80 MHz.

In one embodiment, the non-contiguous channel bonding may be performedamong the primary and the secondary subchannels. That is, the frame 360may be sent over the available subchannels. The frame 360 may include atleast in part, a legacy preamble (e.g., L-STF, L-LTF, and L-SIG), ahigh-efficiency preamble (HE-SIG-A and HE-SIG-B), training fields (e.g.,HE-STF HE-LTF) and data. On the occupied secondary subchannel (e.g.,secondary 20 MHz subchannel 352), the legacy preamble and the highefficiency preamble may not be sent.

In one embodiment, the HE-SIG-B field may be divided into two subfieldsHE-SIG-B1 and HE-SIG-B2 and the two may be sent over adjacent 20 MHzsubchannels. For a low end user device that does not combine subfields(e.g., HE-SIG-B1 and HE-SIG-B2), the user device may only be able todecode the primary 40 MHz subchannel or the secondary 40 MHz or half ofthe secondary 80 MHz to get both HE-SIG-B1 and HE-SIG-B2. That is, theuser device may only be able to decode the subfields in a contiguoussubchannel such that any unavailable 20 MHz subchannel may render theentire 40 MHz subchannel unavailable.

FIGS. 4A-4B depict illustrative schematic diagrams of non-contiguouschannel bonding using an additional CCA measurement, in accordance withone or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 4A, there is shown an 80 MHz channel that is comprisedof a primary 20 MHz subchannel 400, a secondary 20 MHz subchannel 402,and a secondary 40 MHz subchannel 404 (comprised of two 20 MHzsubchannels). The legacy CCA operations shown in FIG. 4A, where CCAmeasurements are applied on the primary 20 MHz subchannel 400, thesecondary 20 MHz subchannel 402 and the secondary 40 MHz subchannel 404.In this example, the secondary 20 MHz subchannel of the secondary 40 MHzsubchannel 404 is occupied or unavailable, as shown by the crossed offsubchannel. In the legacy systems, the lower 20 MHz subchannel of thesecondary 40 MHz subchannel 404 may be unusable due to the contiguousrequirement in the legacy systems. Therefore, the legacy and highefficiency preambles may not be sent over the entire secondary 40 MHzsubchannel 404 as shown by the crossed off preambles in FIG. 4A.

Referring to FIG. 4B, there is shown an 80 MHz channel that is comprisedof a primary 20 MHz subchannel 450, a secondary 20 MHz subchannel 452,and a secondary 40 MHz subchannel. The secondary 40 MHz subchannel maybe comprised of a first secondary 20 MHz subchannel 454 and a secondsecondary 20 MHz subchannel 456.

In one embodiment, a non-contiguous channel bonding system may increasethroughput gain by utilizing one or more additional CCA measurements onadditional subchannels. As depicted in FIG. 4A, the CCA measurements areapplied on the primary 20 MHz subchannel 400, the secondary 20 MHzsubchannel 402 and the secondary for 40 MHz subchannel 404. Theadditional CCA measurement may provide CCA results for each of the 20MHz subchannels within the secondary 40 MHz subchannel. When either ofthe 20 MHz subchannels within the secondary 40 MHz subchannel isoccupied, the remaining usable 20 MHz subchannel can still be used. Forexample, in FIG. 4A, the additional CCA may salvage the second secondary20 MHz subchannel 456 to be used to transmit the legacy and the highefficiency preambles and high efficiency data symbols.

It should be understood that although FIG. 4B depicts a busy orunavailable secondary 20 MHz channel 454 of the secondary 40 MHzsubchannel, the non-contiguous channel bonding system may also utilizeavailable subchannels when, for example, any other one or moresubchannels of the 80 MHz channel are busy or unavailable. That is, thenon-contiguous channel bonding system may utilize the primary 20 MHzsubchannel 450, and the 20 MHz subchannel 456, when the secondary 20 MHzsubchannel 452 and the secondary 20 MHz subchannel 454 are busy orunavailable. It should be understood that the primary 20 MHz subchannelmay be any of the subchannels in a frequency channel (e.g., 40/80/160MHz, etc.).

In one embodiment, the non-contiguous channel bonding system may applyan additional CCA measurement to half of the largest secondarysubchannel. For example, if the maximum bandwidth of the system is 80MHz, then the largest secondary subchannel is the secondary 40 MHzsubchannel. The AP may indicate to a user device by includinginformation associated with CCA measurements and/or non-contiguouschannel bonding in a trigger frame in the trigger based case. The userdevice may receive the trigger frame and may perform, at least in part,the additional CCA measurement. Although this may increase powerconsumption due to using FFT circuitry or using time domain samples byconducting low pass filtering, throughput may be increased by performingthe additional CCA measurement.

In one embodiment, after adding one CCA measurement, the user device mayessentially perform CCA for each 20 MHz subchannel in the 80 MHzchannel. In legacy system, if one 20 MHz in the secondary 40 MHzsubchannel is occupied, the whole 40 MHz subchannel is not used as shownin FIG. 4A. In contrast, the embodiments depicted in FIG. 4B may use allremaining 20 MHz subchannels due to utilizing the additional CCAmeasurement. In addition, the implementation of this scheme iscompatible with the legacy systems. The existing CCA operations for thesecondary 40 MHz subchannel may be reused. One CCA for one of the two 20MHz subchannels in the secondary 40 MHz subchannel is added. The CCApower measurement for the other 20 MHz subchannel may be simply obtainedas P_(CCA)(2^(nd) 20 MHz)=P_(CCA)(40 MHz)−P_(CCA)(1^(st) 20 MHz).Namely, the total power of each 20 MHz subchannel is the power of the 40MHz secondary channel. It is understood that the above descriptions arefor purposes of illustration and are not meant to be limiting.

FIGS. 5A-5C depict illustrative schematic diagrams of non-contiguouschannel bonding with a frequency band of 160 MHz, in accordance with oneor more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 5A, there is shown a 160 MHz channel that is comprisedof a primary 20 MHz subchannel 500, a secondary 20 MHz subchannel 502, asecondary 40 MHz subchannel 504 (comprised of two 20 MHz subchannels),and a secondary 80 MHz subchannel 506. FIG. 5A, shows the legacyoperation for CCA measurements, where CCA measurements are applied onthe primary 20 MHz subchannel 500, the secondary 20 MHz subchannel 502,the secondary 40 MHz subchannel 504, and the secondary 80 MHz subchannel506. In this example, the secondary 20 MHz subchannel 510 of thesecondary 80 MHz subchannel 506 is assumed to be occupied orunavailable, as shown by the crossed off subchannel 510. In this case,the entirety of the secondary 80 MHz subchannel 506 may be unusable dueto the contiguous requirement in the legacy systems. Therefore, thelegacy and high efficiency preambles 512 may not be sent over the entiresecondary 80 MHz subchannel 506 as shown by the crossed off preambles512.

Referring to FIG. 5B, there is shown a 160 MHz channel that is comprisedof a primary 20 MHz subchannel 550, a secondary 20 MHz subchannel 552, asecondary 40 MHz subchannel 554, and a secondary 80 MHz subchannel. Thesecondary 80 MHz subchannel may be comprised of a first secondary 40 MHzsubchannel 556 and a second secondary 40 MHz subchannel 558.

In one embodiment, a non-contiguous channel bonding system may increasethroughput gain by utilizing one or more additional CCA measurements onadditional subchannels. As depicted in FIG. 5A, the CCA measurements areapplied on the primary 20 MHz subchannel 500, the secondary 20 MHzsubchannel 502, the secondary 40 MHz subchannel 504, and the secondary80 MHz subchannel 506. The additional CCA measurement may allow thefirst secondary 40 MHz subchannel 556 to be used to transmit the legacyand the high efficiency preambles. Therefore, the legacy and highefficiency preambles 562 may not be sent over the second secondary 40MHz subchannel 558 as shown by the crossed off preambles 562.

Referring to FIG. 5C, there is shown a 160 MHz channel that is comprisedof a primary 20 MHz subchannel 570, a secondary 20 MHz subchannel 572, asecondary 40 MHz subchannel 574, and a secondary 80 MHz subchannel. Thesecondary 80 MHz subchannel may be comprised of a first secondary 40 MHzsubchannel 576 and a second secondary 40 MHz subchannel 578.

In one embodiment, a non-contiguous channel bonding system mayfacilitate channel bonding when a secondary 40 MHz subchannel ispunctured or unavailable. For example, a device (e.g., user device 120FIG. 1) may still be able to use additional subchannels (e.g., secondary80 MHz subchannel) in the 160 MHz channel even though the secondary 40MHz subchannel is punctured or unavailable. In other words, the primary40 MHz subchannel and the secondary 80 MHz subchannel may be utilized bya user device in order to transmit its frames.

In one embodiment, CCA measurements may be performed on the primary 20MHz subchannel 570, the secondary 20 MHz subchannel 572, the secondary40 MHz subchannel 574, and the entire secondary 80 MHz subchannel or maybe performed on the first secondary 40 MHz subchannel 576 and the secondsecondary 40 MHz subchannel 578. In this example, since secondary 40 MHzsubchannel 574 is punctured or unavailable, the legacy and highefficiency preambles 580 may not be sent over the secondary 40 MHzsubchannel 578 as shown by the crossed off preamble 580. It isunderstood that the above descriptions are for purposes of illustrationand are not meant to be limiting.

FIG. 6A illustrates a flow diagram of illustrative process 600 for anon-contiguous channel bonding system in accordance with one or moreembodiments of the disclosure.

At block 602, a device (e.g., the user device(s) 120 and/or the AP 102of FIG. 1) may determine a wireless communication channel having one ormore subchannels in accordance with one or more communication standards.During communication between, for example, an AP and one or more userdevices, a wireless communication channel may be established between theAP and the one or more user devices. The one or more user devices mayinclude legacy devices and/or HEW devices. In the case where the legacydevice and the HEW device coexist, the legacy device may support and mayuse a 20 MHz band or 40 MHz band to communicate with the AP. Since HEWmay support, for example, 80 MHz, one of the 20 MHz subchannels of the80 MHz band may be used by the legacy device causing a puncturing of the80 MHz. That is, at least one of the subchannels of the 80 MHz band maybe unavailable.

At block 604, the device may determine the availability of at least oneof the one or more subchannels. For example, CCA measurement may beutilized by a device in order to determine whether the channel is clearbased on a dBm level of reception. FFT circuitry may be utilized toperform the CCA measurement, which may require additional powerconsumption. When be FFT circuitry is off, the power measurement foreach 20 MHz subchannel may need to be done in time domain samples inorder to save power. For example, the receiving device may need todown-convert each 20 MHz subchannel to baseband around direct current(DC) and conduct low pass filtering. However, that also may consumepower consumes.

At block 606, the device may select a transmission mode based at leastin part on the availability of the at least one of the one or moresubchannels. The transmission modes may include at least in part,contiguous and non-contiguous modes. That is, based at least in part onthe number of the one or more subchannels, a contiguous mode may have nopuncturing (e.g., not busy) within the one or more subchannels. Incontrast, a non-contiguous mode may include at least one subchannel thatmay be punctured or busy or unavailable. A device may determine whethera subchannel is punctured or busy or unavailable by performing CCAmeasurements. In one example, a trigger based and a non-trigger basedCCA operations may be utilized in order to allow a device to determinehow many CCA measurements to perform. In the trigger-based case, a userdevice may receive a trigger frame from an AP. After receiving thetrigger frame, the user device may conduct CCA measurements within apredetermined time in accordance with and IEEE 802.11 standard. Forexample, receiving the trigger frame may indicate to the user devicethat CCA measurements may be performed. In another embodiment, thetrigger frame may contain information that may be decoded by the userdevice receiving the trigger frame to determine how many CCAmeasurements to be performed. The information may indicate to the userdevice that CCA measurement should be performed, for example, for each20 MHz subchannel after receiving the trigger frame within thepredetermined time (e.g., 4 microseconds). The trigger frame may be amultiuser, multicast trigger a single user, or unicast frame such as arequest to send (RTS) frame. Since FFT is only used for a limitedduration in order to conserve power, CCA measurement may be done foreach 20 MHz subchannel. For example, a user device may need to continuethe FFT operation for one symbol after the trigger frame.

If the communication between the AP and the one or more user devices isconfigured to operate on a wireless communication channel of 160 MHz,the one or more user devices may be instructed to measure the CCA of theprimary 20 MHz, the secondary 20 MHz, the secondary 40 MHz, and thesecondary 80 MHz. This may allow a limited number of CCA measurementsresulting in lower power consumption as opposed to having to measure theCCA for each of the subchannels in the 160 MHz channel.

If the communication between the AP and the one or more user devices isconfigured to operate in an 80 MHz channel, the one or more user devicesmay be instructed to measure the CCA of the primary 20 MHz, thesecondary 20 MHz, and the secondary 40 MHz, for a total of 3 CCAmeasurements. This again may provide an unlimited number of CCAmeasurements resulting in lower power consumption.

A user device may be instructed to perform one or more CCA measurementsin addition to the above measurements. For example, if only oneadditional CCA measurement is requested, a device may measure the CCA ofhalf of the largest secondary subchannel. For example, if the maximumbandwidth of the system is 80 MHz, then the largest secondary subchannelis the secondary 40 MHz subchannel. This results in 4 CCA measurementsin the 80 MHz channel. The extra CCA measurement may determine which, ifany, of the individual 20 MHz subchannels in the secondary 40 MHzsubchannel are busy or available. This essentially allows the device toperform CCA measurements for each of the 20 MHz subchannels in the 80MHz channel.

At block 608, the device may cause to send a frame to one or more userdevices, wherein the frame is sent on at least one available subchannelof the one or more subchannels. For example, in the case of a wirelesscommunication channel of 80 MHz, if the secondary 20 MHz is busy but therest of the wireless medication channel is available, the AP may sendits frames on any or all of the available subchannels (e.g., the primary20 MHz subchannel, the secondary 40 MHz subchannel, etc.). It isunderstood that the above descriptions are for purposes of illustrationand are not meant to be limiting.

FIG. 6B illustrates a flow diagram of illustrative process 650 for ahigh efficiency signal field coding system, in accordance with one ormore example embodiments of the present disclosure.

At block 652, a device (e.g., the user device(s) 120 and/or the AP 102of FIG. 1) may identify a wireless communication channel with anotherdevice having one or more subchannels. For example, a user device mayestablish a wireless communication channel with an AP. The wirelesscommunication channel may be configured to be operational on variousfrequency bands. For example, the AP and the user device may establish awireless communication channel of 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz, 160 MHz, etc.The wireless communication channel may contain one or more subchannels,for example, an 80 MHz wireless communication channel may contain aprimary 20 MHz subchannel, a secondary 20 MHz subchannel, and asecondary 40 MHz subchannel. The secondary 40 MHz subchannel may bedivided into two 20 MHz subchannels.

At block 654, the device may determine to perform one or more clearchannel assessments (CCA) measurements on at least one of the one ormore subchannels. A trigger based and a non-trigger based CCA operationsmay be utilized in order to allow a device to determine how many CCAmeasurements to perform. In the trigger-based case, a user device mayreceive a trigger frame from an AP. In one embodiment, a user device maydetermine how many CCA measurements to perform based at least in part,the IEEE 802.11 standard. In another embodiment, the user device maydetermine how many CCA measurements to perform based on a receivedtrigger frame. After receiving the trigger frame, the user device mayconduct CCA measurements within a predetermined time in accordance withand IEEE 802.11 standard. For example, receiving the trigger frame mayindicate to the user device that CCA measurements may be performed. Inanother embodiment, the trigger frame may contain information that maybe decoded by the user device receiving the trigger frame to determinehow many CCA measurements to be performed. The information may indicateto the user device that CCA measurement should be performed, forexample, for each 20 MHz subchannel after receiving the trigger framewithin the predetermined time (e.g., 4 microseconds). The trigger framemay be a multiuser, multicast trigger a single user, or unicast framesuch as a request to send (RTS) frame. Since FFT is only used for alimited duration in order to conserve power, CCA measurement may be donefor each 20 MHz subchannel. For example, a user device may need tocontinue the FFT operation for one symbol after the trigger frame. Ifthe communication between the AP and the one or more user devices isconfigured to operate on a wireless communication channel of 160 MHz,the one or more user devices may be instructed to measure the CCA of theprimary 20 MHz, the secondary 20 MHz, the secondary 40 MHz, and thesecondary 80 MHz. This may allow a limited number of CCA measurementsresulting in lower power consumption as opposed to having to measure theCCA for each of the subchannels in the 160 MHz channel.

If the communication between the AP and the one or more user devices isconfigured to operate in an 80 MHz channel, the one or more user devicesmay be instructed to measure the CCA of the primary 20 MHz, thesecondary 20 MHz, and the secondary 40 MHz, for a total of 3 CCAmeasurements. This again may provide an unlimited number of CCAmeasurements resulting in lower power consumption.

A user device may be instructed to perform one or more CCA measurementsin addition to the above measurements. For example, if only oneadditional CCA measurement is requested, a device may measure the CCA ofhalf of the largest secondary subchannel. For example, if the maximumbandwidth of the system is 80 MHz, then the largest secondary subchannelis the secondary 40 MHz subchannel. This results in 4 CCA measurementsin the 80 MHz channel. The extra CCA measurement may determine which, ifany, of the individual 20 MHz subchannels in the secondary 40 MHzsubchannel are busy or available. This essentially allows the device toperform CCA measurements for each of the 20 MHz subchannels in the 80MHz channel.

At block 656, the device may determine one or more available subchannelsof the one or more subchannels based at least in part on the one or moreCCAs. For example, the user device may be instructed to perform one ormore CCAs based on the wireless communication frequency size (e.g., 20MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz, 160 MHz, etc.). The user device may determine,based on the CCA measurements, that a 20 MHz subchannel, for example, isunavailable or busy. In that case, the user device may utilize theavailable subchannels in order to send its frames.

At block 658, the device may cause to send a frame using at least one ofthe one or more available subchannels. For example, in the case of awireless communication channel of 80 MHz, if the secondary 20 MHz isbusy but the rest of the wireless medication channel is available, theuser device may send its frames on any or all of the availablesubchannels (e.g., the primary 20 MHz subchannel, the secondary 40 MHzsubchannel, etc.). It is understood that the above descriptions are forpurposes of illustration and are not meant to be limiting.

FIG. 7 shows a functional diagram of an exemplary communication station700 in accordance with some embodiments. In one embodiment, FIG. 7illustrates a functional block diagram of a communication station thatmay be suitable for use as an AP 102 (FIG. 1) or a user device 120(FIG. 1) in accordance with some embodiments. The communication station700 may also be suitable for use as a handheld device, a mobile device,a cellular telephone, a smartphone, a tablet, a netbook, a wirelessterminal, a laptop computer, a wearable computer device, a femtocell, ahigh data rate (HDR) subscriber station, an access point, an accessterminal, or other personal communication system (PCS) device.

The communication station 700 may include communications circuitry 702and a transceiver 710 for transmitting and receiving signals to and fromother communication stations using one or more antennas 701. Thecommunications circuitry 702 may include circuitry that can operate thephysical layer (PHY) communications and/or media access control (MAC)communications for controlling access to the wireless medium, and/or anyother communications layers for transmitting and receiving signals. Thecommunication station 700 may also include processing circuitry 706 andmemory 708 arranged to perform the operations described herein. In someembodiments, the communications circuitry 702 and the processingcircuitry 706 may be configured to perform operations detailed in FIGS.1A-1C, 2, 3A-3B, 4A-4B, 5A-5B, and 6A-6B.

In accordance with some embodiments, the communications circuitry 702may be arranged to contend for a wireless medium and configure frames orpackets for communicating over the wireless medium. The communicationscircuitry 702 may be arranged to transmit and receive signals. Thecommunications circuitry 702 may also include circuitry formodulation/demodulation, upconversion/downconversion, filtering,amplification, etc. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 706 ofthe communication station 700 may include one or more processors. Inother embodiments, two or more antennas 701 may be coupled to thecommunications circuitry 702 arranged for sending and receiving signals.The memory 708 may store information for configuring the processingcircuitry 706 to perform operations for configuring and transmittingmessage frames and performing the various operations described herein.The memory 708 may include any type of memory, including non-transitorymemory, for storing information in a form readable by a machine (e.g., acomputer). For example, the memory 708 may include a computer-readablestorage device, read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM),magnetic disk storage media, optical storage media, flash-memory devicesand other storage devices and media.

In some embodiments, the communication station 700 may be part of aportable wireless communication device, such as a personal digitalassistant (PDA), a laptop or portable computer with wirelesscommunication capability, a web tablet, a wireless telephone, asmartphone, a wireless headset, a pager, an instant messaging device, adigital camera, an access point, a television, a medical device (e.g., aheart rate monitor, a blood pressure monitor, etc.), a wearable computerdevice, or another device that may receive and/or transmit informationwirelessly.

In some embodiments, the communication station 700 may include one ormore antennas 701. The antennas 701 may include one or more directionalor omnidirectional antennas, including, for example, dipole antennas,monopole antennas, patch antennas, loop antennas, microstrip antennas,or other types of antennas suitable for transmission of RF signals. Insome embodiments, instead of two or more antennas, a single antenna withmultiple apertures may be used. In these embodiments, each aperture maybe considered a separate antenna. In some multiple-input multiple-output(MIMO) embodiments, the antennas may be effectively separated forspatial diversity and the different channel characteristics that mayresult between each of the antennas and the antennas of a transmittingstation.

In some embodiments, the communication station 700 may include one ormore of a keyboard, a display, a non-volatile memory port, multipleantennas, a graphics processor, an application processor, speakers, andother mobile device elements. The display may be an LCD screen includinga touch screen.

Although the communication station 700 is illustrated as having severalseparate functional elements, two or more of the functional elements maybe combined and may be implemented by combinations ofsoftware-configured elements, such as processing elements includingdigital signal processors (DSPs), and/or other hardware elements. Forexample, some elements may include one or more microprocessors, DSPs,field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integratedcircuits (ASICs), radio-frequency integrated circuits (RFICs) andcombinations of various hardware and logic circuitry for performing atleast the functions described herein. In some embodiments, thefunctional elements of the communication station 700 may refer to one ormore processes operating on one or more processing elements.

Certain embodiments may be implemented in one or a combination ofhardware, firmware, and software. Other embodiments may also beimplemented as instructions stored on a computer-readable storagedevice, which may be read and executed by at least one processor toperform the operations described herein. A computer-readable storagedevice may include any non-transitory memory mechanism for storinginformation in a form readable by a machine (e.g., a computer). Forexample, a computer-readable storage device may include read-only memory(ROM), random-access memory (RAM), magnetic disk storage media, opticalstorage media, flash-memory devices, and other storage devices andmedia. In some embodiments, the communication station 700 may includeone or more processors and may be configured with instructions stored ona computer-readable storage device memory.

FIG. 8 illustrates a block diagram of an example of a machine 800 orsystem upon which any one or more of the techniques (e.g.,methodologies) discussed herein may be performed. In other embodiments,the machine 800 may operate as a standalone device or may be connected(e.g., networked) to other machines. In a networked deployment, themachine 800 may operate in the capacity of a server machine, a clientmachine, or both in server-client network environments. In an example,the machine 800 may act as a peer machine in peer-to-peer (P2P) (orother distributed) network environments. The machine 800 may be apersonal computer (PC), a tablet PC, a set-top box (STB), a personaldigital assistant (PDA), a mobile telephone, a wearable computer device,a web appliance, a network router, a switch or bridge, or any machinecapable of executing instructions (sequential or otherwise) that specifyactions to be taken by that machine, such as a base station. Further,while only a single machine is illustrated, the term “machine” shallalso be taken to include any collection of machines that individually orjointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform anyone or more of the methodologies discussed herein, such as cloudcomputing, software as a service (SaaS), or other computer clusterconfigurations.

Examples, as described herein, may include or may operate on logic or anumber of components, modules, or mechanisms. Modules are tangibleentities (e.g., hardware) capable of performing specified operationswhen operating. A module includes hardware. In an example, the hardwaremay be specifically configured to carry out a specific operation (e.g.,hardwired). In another example, the hardware may include configurableexecution units (e.g., transistors, circuits, etc.) and a computerreadable medium containing instructions where the instructions configurethe execution units to carry out a specific operation when in operation.The configuring may occur under the direction of the executions units ora loading mechanism. Accordingly, the execution units arecommunicatively coupled to the computer-readable medium when the deviceis operating. In this example, the execution units may be a member ofmore than one module. For example, under operation, the execution unitsmay be configured by a first set of instructions to implement a firstmodule at one point in time and reconfigured by a second set ofinstructions to implement a second module at a second point in time.

The machine (e.g., computer system) 800 may include a hardware processor802 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit(GPU), a hardware processor core, or any combination thereof), a mainmemory 804 and a static memory 806, some or all of which may communicatewith each other via an interlink (e.g., bus) 808. The machine 800 mayfurther include a power management device 832, a graphics display device810, an alphanumeric input device 812 (e.g., a keyboard), and a userinterface (UI) navigation device 814 (e.g., a mouse). In an example, thegraphics display device 810, alphanumeric input device 812, and UInavigation device 814 may be a touch screen display. The machine 800 mayadditionally include a storage device (i.e., drive unit) 816, a signalgeneration device 818 (e.g., a speaker), a non-contiguous channelbonding device 819, a network interface device/transceiver 820 coupledto antenna(s) 830, and one or more sensors 828, such as a globalpositioning system (GPS) sensor, a compass, an accelerometer, or othersensor. The machine 800 may include an output controller 834, such as aserial (e.g., universal serial bus (USB), parallel, or other wired orwireless (e.g., infrared (IR), near field communication (NFC), etc.)connection to communicate with or control one or more peripheral devices(e.g., a printer, a card reader, etc.)).

The storage device 816 may include a machine readable medium 822 onwhich is stored one or more sets of data structures or instructions 824(e.g., software) embodying or utilized by any one or more of thetechniques or functions described herein. The instructions 824 may alsoreside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory 804,within the static memory 806, or within the hardware processor 802during execution thereof by the machine 800. In an example, one or anycombination of the hardware processor 802, the main memory 804, thestatic memory 806, or the storage device 816 may constitutemachine-readable media.

The non-contiguous channel bonding device 819 may be carry out orperform any of the operations and processes (e.g., processes 600 and650) described and shown above. For example, the non-contiguous channelbonding device 819 may be configured to facilitate a trigger based and anon-trigger based non-contiguous channel bonding. In the trigger-basedcase, a device may be instructed to conduct CCA within a limited time.For example, a trigger frame may instruct the device to measure the CCAfor each 20 MHz subchannel after the trigger frame, within, for example,a few microseconds (e.g., 4 microseconds). Since FFT should be used fora limited time in order to preserve power consumption, CCA measurementmay be performed for each 20 MHz subchannel. In the non-trigger basedcase, the device may monitor the channel without instructions, in orderto determine whether the channel is available or not.

The non-contiguous channel bonding device 819 may be configured toinstruct a device to measure the CCA of the primary 20 MHz, thesecondary 20 MHz, the secondary 40 MHz, and the secondary 80 MHz, if thecommunication between devices (e.g., between an AP and a user device) isconfigured to operate on a 160 MHz channel. This may allow a limitednumber of CCA measurements resulting in lower power consumption asopposed to having to measure the CCA for each of the subchannels in the160 MHz channel.

The non-contiguous channel bonding device 819 may be configured toinstruct a device to measure the CCA of the primary 20 MHz, thesecondary 20 MHz, and the secondary 40 MHz, if the communication betweendevices is configured to operate in an 80 MHz channel.

The non-contiguous channel bonding device 819 may be configured toinstruct a device to perform one or more CCA measurements in addition tothe above measurements. For example, if only one additional CCAmeasurement is requested, a device may measure the CCA of half of thelargest secondary subchannel. For example, if the maximum bandwidth ofthe system is 80 MHz, then the largest secondary subchannel is thesecondary 40 MHz subchannel. This results in 4 CCA measurements in the80 MHz channel. The extra CCA measurement may determine which, if any,of the individual 20 MHz subchannels in the secondary 40 MHz subchannelare busy or available. This essentially allows the device to perform CCAmeasurements for each of the 20 MHz subchannels in the 80 MHz channel.

The non-contiguous channel bonding device 819 may be configured tofacilitate the one additional CCA measurement to be requested for thelargest secondary channel (e.g., the secondary 80 MHz subchannel), ifthe communication between devices is configured to operate in a 160 MHzchannel. That is, two CCA measurements will be performed by the device,one for the first 40 MHz in the secondary 80 MHz subchannel and anotherone for the second 40 MHz in the secondary 80 MHz subchannel. It isunderstood that the above descriptions are for purposes of illustrationand are not meant to be limiting.

While the machine-readable medium 822 is illustrated as a single medium,the term “machine-readable medium” may include a single medium ormultiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed database, and/orassociated caches and servers) configured to store the one or moreinstructions 824.

Various embodiments may be implemented fully or partially in softwareand/or firmware. This software and/or firmware may take the form ofinstructions contained in or on a non-transitory computer-readablestorage medium. Those instructions may then be read and executed by oneor more processors to enable performance of the operations describedherein. The instructions may be in any suitable form, such as but notlimited to source code, compiled code, interpreted code, executablecode, static code, dynamic code, and the like. Such a computer-readablemedium may include any tangible non-transitory medium for storinginformation in a form readable by one or more computers, such as but notlimited to read only memory (ROM); random access memory (RAM); magneticdisk storage media; optical storage media; a flash memory, etc.

The term “machine-readable medium” may include any medium that iscapable of storing, encoding, or carrying instructions for execution bythe machine 800 and that cause the machine 800 to perform any one ormore of the techniques of the present disclosure, or that is capable ofstoring, encoding, or carrying data structures used by or associatedwith such instructions. Non-limiting machine-readable medium examplesmay include solid-state memories and optical and magnetic media. In anexample, a massed machine-readable medium includes a machine-readablemedium with a plurality of particles having resting mass. Specificexamples of massed machine-readable media may include non-volatilememory, such as semiconductor memory devices (e.g., electricallyprogrammable read-only memory (EPROM), or electrically erasableprogrammable read-only memory (EEPROM)) and flash memory devices;magnetic disks, such as internal hard disks and removable disks;magneto-optical disks; and CD-ROM and DVD-ROM disks.

The instructions 824 may further be transmitted or received over acommunications network 826 using a transmission medium via the networkinterface device/transceiver 820 utilizing any one of a number oftransfer protocols (e.g., frame relay, internet protocol (IP),transmission control protocol (TCP), user datagram protocol (UDP),hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), etc.). Example communicationsnetworks may include a local area network (LAN), a wide area network(WAN), a packet data network (e.g., the Internet), mobile telephonenetworks (e.g., cellular networks), plain old telephone (POTS) networks,wireless data networks (e.g., Institute of Electrical and ElectronicsEngineers (IEEE) 802.11 family of standards known as Wi-Fi®, IEEE 802.16family of standards known as WiMax®), IEEE 802.15.4 family of standards,and peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, among others. In an example, thenetwork interface device/transceiver 820 may include one or morephysical jacks (e.g., Ethernet, coaxial, or phone jacks) or one or moreantennas to connect to the communications network 826. In an example,the network interface device/transceiver 820 may include a plurality ofantennas to wirelessly communicate using at least one of single-inputmultiple-output (SIMO), multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), ormultiple-input single-output (MISO) techniques. The term “transmissionmedium” shall be taken to include any intangible medium that is capableof storing, encoding, or carrying instructions for execution by themachine 800 and includes digital or analog communications signals orother intangible media to facilitate communication of such software. Theoperations and processes (e.g., processes 600 and 650) described andshown above may be carried out or performed in any suitable order asdesired in various implementations. Additionally, in certainimplementations, at least a portion of the operations may be carried outin parallel. Furthermore, in certain implementations, less than or morethan the operations described may be performed.

The word “exemplary” is used herein to mean “serving as an example,instance, or illustration.” Any embodiment described herein as“exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred oradvantageous over other embodiments. The terms “computing device,” “userdevice,” “communication station,” “station,” “handheld device,” “mobiledevice,” “wireless device” and “user equipment” (UE) as used hereinrefers to a wireless communication device such as a cellular telephone,a smartphone, a tablet, a netbook, a wireless terminal, a laptopcomputer, a femtocell, a high data rate (HDR) subscriber station, anaccess point, a printer, a point of sale device, an access terminal, orother personal communication system (PCS) device. The device may beeither mobile or stationary.

As used within this document, the term “communicate” is intended toinclude transmitting, or receiving, or both transmitting and receiving.This may be particularly useful in claims when describing theorganization of data that is being transmitted by one device andreceived by another, but only the functionality of one of those devicesis required to infringe the claim. Similarly, the bidirectional exchangeof data between two devices (both devices transmit and receive duringthe exchange) may be described as “communicating,” when only thefunctionality of one of those devices is being claimed. The term“communicating” as used herein with respect to a wireless communicationsignal includes transmitting the wireless communication signal and/orreceiving the wireless communication signal. For example, a wirelesscommunication unit, which is capable of communicating a wirelesscommunication signal, may include a wireless transmitter to transmit thewireless communication signal to at least one other wirelesscommunication unit, and/or a wireless communication receiver to receivethe wireless communication signal from at least one other wirelesscommunication unit.

As used herein, unless otherwise specified, the use of the ordinaladjectives “first,” “second,” “third,” etc., to describe a commonobject, merely indicates that different instances of like objects arebeing referred to and are not intended to imply that the objects sodescribed must be in a given sequence, either temporally, spatially, inranking, or in any other manner.

The term “access point” (AP) as used herein may be a fixed station. Anaccess point may also be referred to as an access node, a base station,or some other similar terminology known in the art. An access terminalmay also be called a mobile station, user equipment (UE), a wirelesscommunication device, or some other similar terminology known in theart. Embodiments disclosed herein generally pertain to wirelessnetworks. Some embodiments may relate to wireless networks that operatein accordance with one of the IEEE 802.11 standards.

Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with various devices andsystems, for example, a personal computer (PC), a desktop computer, amobile computer, a laptop computer, a notebook computer, a tabletcomputer, a server computer, a handheld computer, a handheld device, apersonal digital assistant (PDA) device, a handheld PDA device, anon-board device, an off-board device, a hybrid device, a vehiculardevice, a non-vehicular device, a mobile or portable device, a consumerdevice, a non-mobile or non-portable device, a wireless communicationstation, a wireless communication device, a wireless access point (AP),a wired or wireless router, a wired or wireless modem, a video device,an audio device, an audio-video (A/V) device, a wired or wirelessnetwork, a wireless area network, a wireless video area network (WVAN),a local area network (LAN), a wireless LAN (WLAN), a personal areanetwork (PAN), a wireless PAN (WPAN), and the like.

Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with one way and/or two-wayradio communication systems, cellular radio-telephone communicationsystems, a mobile phone, a cellular telephone, a wireless telephone, apersonal communication system (PCS) device, a PDA device whichincorporates a wireless communication device, a mobile or portableglobal positioning system (GPS) device, a device which incorporates aGPS receiver or transceiver or chip, a device which incorporates an RFIDelement or chip, a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) transceiver ordevice, a single input multiple output (SIMO) transceiver or device, amultiple input single output (MISO) transceiver or device, a devicehaving one or more internal antennas and/or external antennas, digitalvideo broadcast (DVB) devices or systems, multi-standard radio devicesor systems, a wired or wireless handheld device, e.g., a smartphone, awireless application protocol (WAP) device, or the like.

Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with one or more types ofwireless communication signals and/or systems following one or morewireless communication protocols, for example, radio frequency (RF),infrared (IR), frequency-division multiplexing (FDM), orthogonal FDM(OFDM), time-division multiplexing (TDM), time-division multiple access(TDMA), extended TDMA (E-TDMA), general packet radio service (GPRS),extended GPRS, code-division multiple access (CDMA), wideband CDMA(WCDMA), CDMA 2000, single-carrier CDMA, multi-carrier CDMA,multi-carrier modulation (MDM), discrete multi-tone (DMT), Bluetooth®,global positioning system (GPS), Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, ZigBee, ultra-wideband(UWB), global system for mobile communications (GSM), 2G, 2.5G, 3G,3.5G, 4G, fifth generation (5G) mobile networks, 3GPP, long termevolution (LTE), LTE advanced, enhanced data rates for GSM Evolution(EDGE), or the like. Other embodiments may be used in various otherdevices, systems, and/or networks.

According to example embodiments of the disclosure, there may be adevice. The device may include at least one memory that storescomputer-executable instructions; and at least one processor configuredto access the at least one memory, wherein the at least one processor isconfigured to execute the computer-executable instructions to determinea wireless communication channel, wherein the wireless communicationchannel includes one or more subchannels; determine an availability ofat least one of the one or more subchannels; select a transmission modebased at least in part on the availability of the at least one of theone or more subchannels; and cause to send a frame to one or more firstdevices using the selected transmission mode.

The implementations may include one or more of the following features.The frame may include at least in part a high efficiency signal A(HE-SIG-A) field and a high efficiency signal B (HE-SIG-B) field. Theone or more subchannels include at least one of a primary 20 MHzsubchannel and one or more secondary 20 MHz subchannels. Thetransmission mode may include at least one of a contiguous or anon-contiguous mode. The at least one processor may be furtherconfigured to execute the computer-executable instructions to perform aClear Channel assessment (CCA) measurement on half of the largestsecondary subchannel of the one or more subchannels. The instructions todetermine the availability of the at least one of the one or moresubchannels may further include the instructions to perform ClearChannel assessment (CCA) measurements on the one or more subchannels.The CCA measurements are to be performed at least in part on a primary20 MHz, a secondary 20 MHz, a secondary 40 MHz, and a secondary 80 MHzwhen a size of the wireless communication channel is 160 MHz. The CCAmeasurements are to be performed at least in part on a primary 20 MHz, asecondary 20 MHz, and a secondary 40 MHz when a size of the wirelesscommunication channel is 80 MHz. The device may further include atransceiver configured to transmit and receive wireless signals. Thedevice of claim 9, further comprising one or more antennas coupled tothe transceiver.

According to example embodiments of the disclosure, there may be anon-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executableinstructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor toperform operations. The operations may include identifying a wirelesscommunication channel with a first device having one or moresubchannels; determining to perform one or more Clear ChannelAssessments (CCA) measurements on at least one of the one or moresubchannels; determining an availability of at least one of the one ormore subchannels based at least in part on performing the one or moreCCA measurements; selecting a transmission mode based at least in parton the availability of the at least one of the one or more subchannels;and causing to send a frame to the first device based at least in parton the availability of at least one of the one or more subchannels.

The implementations may include one or more of the following features.The computer-executable instructions cause the processor to furtherperform operations comprising: identifying a trigger frame from thefirst device; and extracting information associated with from thetrigger frame. The information may include a time to perform the one ormore CCA measurements. The computer-executable instructions cause theprocessor to further perform operations comprising: determining achannel bandwidth of the wireless communication channel; and determiningto perform a number of CCA measurements of the one or more CCAmeasurements based at least in part on the channel bandwidth of thewireless communication channel. The one or more subchannels include atleast one of a primary 20 MHz subchannel and one or more secondary 20MHz subchannels.

According to example embodiments of the disclosure, there may include amethod. The method may include determining a wireless communicationchannel having a channel bandwidth, wherein the wireless communicationchannel includes one or more subchannels; determining an availability ofat least one of the one or more subchannels; selecting a transmissionmode based at least in part on the availability of the at least one ofthe one or more subchannels; and causing to send a frame to one or morefirst devices based at least in part on the selected transmission mode.

The implementations may include one or more of the following features.The frame includes at least in part a high efficiency signal A(HE-SIG-A) field and a high efficiency signal B (HE-SIG-B) field. Theone or more subchannels include at least one of a primary 20 MHzsubchannel and one or more secondary 20 MHz subchannels. Thetransmission mode include at least one of a contiguous or anon-contiguous mode. The method may further include performing a ClearChannel assessment (CCA) measurement on half of the largest secondarysubchannel of the one or more subchannels. The determining theavailability of the at least one of the one or more subchannels mayfurther include performing Clear Channel assessment (CCA) measurementson the one or more subchannels. The CCA measurements are to be performedat least in part on a primary 20 MHz, a secondary 20 MHz, a secondary 40MHz, and a secondary 80 MHz when a size of the wireless communicationchannel is 160 MHz. The CCA measurements are to be performed at least inpart on a primary 20 MHz, a secondary 20 MHz, and a secondary 40 MHzwhen a size of the wireless communication channel is 80 MHz.

In example embodiments of the disclosure, there may be an apparatus. Theapparatus may include means for determining a wireless communicationchannel having a channel bandwidth, wherein the wireless communicationchannel includes one or more subchannels. The apparatus may includemeans for determining an availability of at least one of the one or moresubchannels. The apparatus may include means for selecting atransmission mode based at least in part on the availability of the atleast one of the one or more subchannels. The apparatus may includemeans for causing to send a frame to one or more first devices based atleast in part on the selected transmission mode.

The implementations may include one or more of the following features.The frame includes at least in part a high efficiency signal A(HE-SIG-A) field and a high efficiency signal B (HE-SIG-B) field. Theone or more subchannels include at least one of a primary 20 MHzsubchannel and one or more secondary 20 MHz subchannels. Thetransmission mode include at least one of a contiguous or anon-contiguous mode. The apparatus may further include means forperforming a Clear Channel assessment (CCA) measurement on half of thelargest secondary subchannel of the one or more subchannels. The meansfor determining the availability of the at least one of the one or moresubchannels further includes means for performing Clear Channelassessment (CCA) measurements on the one or more subchannels. The CCAmeasurements are to be performed at least in part on a primary 20 MHz, asecondary 20 MHz, a secondary 40 MHz, and a secondary 80 MHz when a sizeof the wireless communication channel is 160 MHz. The CCA measurementsare to be performed at least in part on a primary 20 MHz, a secondary 20MHz, and a secondary 40 MHz when a size of the wireless communicationchannel is 80 MHz.

Certain aspects of the disclosure are described above with reference toblock and flow diagrams of systems, methods, apparatuses, and/orcomputer program products according to various implementations. It willbe understood that one or more blocks of the block diagrams and flowdiagrams, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and the flowdiagrams, respectively, may be implemented by computer-executableprogram instructions. Likewise, some blocks of the block diagrams andflow diagrams may not necessarily need to be performed in the orderpresented, or may not necessarily need to be performed at all, accordingto some implementations.

These computer-executable program instructions may be loaded onto aspecial-purpose computer or other particular machine, a processor, orother programmable data processing apparatus to produce a particularmachine, such that the instructions that execute on the computer,processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus create meansfor implementing one or more functions specified in the flow diagramblock or blocks. These computer program instructions may also be storedin a computer-readable storage media or memory that may direct acomputer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function ina particular manner, such that the instructions stored in thecomputer-readable storage media produce an article of manufactureincluding instruction means that implement one or more functionsspecified in the flow diagram block or blocks. As an example, certainimplementations may provide for a computer program product, comprising acomputer-readable storage medium having a computer-readable program codeor program instructions implemented therein, said computer-readableprogram code adapted to be executed to implement one or more functionsspecified in the flow diagram block or blocks. The computer programinstructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmabledata processing apparatus to cause a series of operational elements orsteps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus toproduce a computer-implemented process such that the instructions thatexecute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide elementsor steps for implementing the functions specified in the flow diagramblock or blocks.

Accordingly, blocks of the block diagrams and flow diagrams supportcombinations of means for performing the specified functions,combinations of elements or steps for performing the specified functionsand program instruction means for performing the specified functions. Itwill also be understood that each block of the block diagrams and flowdiagrams, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and flowdiagrams, may be implemented by special-purpose, hardware-based computersystems that perform the specified functions, elements or steps, orcombinations of special-purpose hardware and computer instructions.

Conditional language, such as, among others, “can,” “could,” “might,” or“may,” unless specifically stated otherwise, or otherwise understoodwithin the context as used, is generally intended to convey that certainimplementations could include, while other implementations do notinclude, certain features, elements, and/or operations. Thus, suchconditional language is not generally intended to imply that features,elements, and/or operations are in any way required for one or moreimplementations or that one or more implementations necessarily includelogic for deciding, with or without user input or prompting, whetherthese features, elements, and/or operations are included or are to beperformed in any particular implementation.

Many modifications and other implementations of the disclosure set forthherein will be apparent having the benefit of the teachings presented inthe foregoing descriptions and the associated drawings. Therefore, it isto be understood that the disclosure is not to be limited to thespecific implementations disclosed and that modifications and otherimplementations are intended to be included within the scope of theappended claims. Although specific terms are employed herein, they areused in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes oflimitation.

1-25. (canceled)
 26. A device, comprising: at least one memory thatstores computer-executable instructions; and at least one processorconfigured to access the at least one memory, wherein the at least oneprocessor is configured to execute the computer-executable instructionsto: determine a wireless communication channel, wherein the wirelesscommunication channel includes one or more subchannels; determine anavailability of at least one of the one or more subchannels; select atransmission mode based at least in part on the availability of the atleast one of the one or more subchannels; and cause to send a frame toone or more first devices using the selected transmission mode.
 27. Thedevice of claim 26, wherein the frame includes at least in part a highefficiency signal A (HE-SIG-A) field and a high efficiency signal B(HE-SIG-B) field.
 28. The device of claim 26, wherein the one or moresubchannels include at least one of a primary 20 MHz subchannel and oneor more secondary 20 MHz subchannels.
 29. The device of claim 26,wherein the transmission mode include at least one of a contiguous or anon-contiguous mode.
 30. The device of claim 26, wherein the at leastone processor is further configured to execute the computer-executableinstructions to perform a Clear Channel assessment (CCA) measurement onhalf of the largest secondary subchannel of the one or more subchannels.31. The device of claim 26, wherein the instructions to determine theavailability of the at least one of the one or more subchannels furtherincludes the instructions to perform Clear Channel assessment (CCA)measurements on the one or more subchannels.
 32. The device of claim 31,wherein the CCA measurements are to be performed at least in part on aprimary 20 MHz, a secondary 20 MHz, a secondary 40 MHz, and a secondary80 MHz when a size of the wireless communication channel is 160 MHz. 33.The device of claim 31, wherein the CCA measurements are to be performedat least in part on a primary 20 MHz, a secondary 20 MHz, and asecondary 40 MHz when a size of the wireless communication channel is 80MHz.
 34. The device of claim 26, further comprising a transceiverconfigured to transmit and receive wireless signals.
 35. The device ofclaim 34, further comprising one or more antennas coupled to thetransceiver.
 36. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storingcomputer-executable instructions which when executed by one or moreprocessors result in performing operations comprising: identifying awireless communication channel with a first device having one or moresubchannels; determining to perform one or more Clear ChannelAssessments (CCA) measurements on at least one of the one or moresubchannels; determining an availability of at least one of the one ormore subchannels based at least in part on performing the one or moreCCA measurements; selecting a transmission mode based at least in parton the availability of the at least one of the one or more subchannels;and causing to send a frame to the first device based at least in parton the availability of at least one of the one or more subchannels. 37.The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 36, wherein thecomputer-executable instructions cause the processor to further performoperations comprising: identifying a trigger frame from the firstdevice; and extracting information associated with from the triggerframe.
 38. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 37,wherein the information includes a time to perform the one or more CCAmeasurements.
 39. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim36, wherein the computer-executable instructions cause the processor tofurther perform operations comprising: determining a channel bandwidthof the wireless communication channel; and determining to perform anumber of CCA measurements of the one or more CCA measurements based atleast in part on the channel bandwidth of the wireless communicationchannel.
 40. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 36,wherein the one or more subchannels include at least one of a primary 20MHz subchannel and one or more secondary 20 MHz subchannels.
 41. Amethod comprising: determining a wireless communication channel having achannel bandwidth, wherein the wireless communication channel includesone or more subchannels; determining an availability of at least one ofthe one or more subchannels; selecting a transmission mode based atleast in part on the availability of the at least one of the one or moresubchannels; and causing to send a frame to one or more first devicesbased at least in part on the selected transmission mode.
 42. The methodof claim 41, wherein the one or more subchannels include at least one ofa primary 20 MHz subchannel and one or more secondary 20 MHzsubchannels.
 43. The method of claim 41, wherein the transmission modeinclude at least in part a contiguous or a non-contiguous mode.
 44. Themethod of claim 41, further includes performing a Clear Channelassessment (CCA) measurement on half of the largest secondary subchannelof the one or more subchannels.
 45. The method of claim 41, furtherincludes performing Clear Channel assessment (CCA) measurements on theone or more subchannels.